Backup Backup Backup! - Day 10 without a Functioning Laptop

The Universe is having a laugh. I try to laugh along but I need all energy I can summon to stay calm...

This post is meant as much for you, as it is for me ( to vent, order my thoughts and keep my calm ).

My nearly 4 year old laptop is - and has been - my entryway into / access to all my crypto ( and a big part of my life ) since I started using it.

In fact, I bought it when I got into crypto ( May 2017 ) and I started blogging for crypto a month later. This has been pretty much my life ( aside from moving countries in 2018 ) since then.

FYI: crypto is my income, my work ( as well as play ) and - being more of an introvert than an extrovert - this space forms a huge part of my ( social ) life. I wake up to it and go to bed with it.

Although I‘m working on my first ( to be released ) book - more on that in recent posts- and hope to make money with my writing outside of crypto too in the near future , right now ( and since 2017 ), all my money comes from active and passive crypto income streams.

You Can Not Pass!

As soon as I felt my portfolio was about to grow to a substantial amount, last year, I got more serious around my laptop ( or I should say password ) security.

I installed a password manager. Since then, in order to access most of my passwords ( for crypto ), I need to log into the password manager first. Yes, I‘ve got that main password backed up offline and stored in my brain‘s memory.

I also have a backup of most of my crypto keys, either offline or in a less saver space ( screenshots in the photo library on my phone - don‘t try that at home! )

Note to self: make another offline backup off these and delete those pics.

Thanks to the above, I was able to log into Hive though and continue posting from my phone after my laptop stopped charging ( more on that in a bit... )

Wallet Access...

Accessing my crypto wallets is a little more complicated though, without my laptop. I‘m on Coinbase, Exodus, Ionomy, Hive / Leo and Binance and I have some funds on my Ledger Hardware wallet.

I can still access all these wallets ( although I need a laptop for my Ledger ) but one important thing has gotten a little more complicated: Binance smart chain farming.

Farming Life

I got into the latter about a month ago and it was about to change my life. I have been setting up a serious ( almost ) passive income stream, thanks to Leofinance and its recent CUB token but, a week and a half ago, my laptop‘s battery emtpied out and no matter what I tried, it didn’t start charging.

I wrote about this recently in raspberry pi - an in(cr)edible little robot

I finally received a new charger yesterday and although it charges, another unforeseen issue popped up. All of a sudden, my laptop can’t find or access my internal harddisk any longer and, no matter what I tried, I won’t get into Windows.

You‘re funny Universe!

I just realize that, lately, I have been telling people that I‘m tired of Windows and now it prevents me from accessing this OS, the only one I‘ve ever used at home ( since the early 90s ), at all.

Hahaha!

I could make this a very long post but I‘m typing this on my phone and I think I made my point.

A friend - the same one who discovered that I needed a new charger - is gonna take a more thorough look at my laptop. I still hope it’s just a connection issue. Perhaps a little cable inside got unstuck.

Worst case scenario, I need a new harddisk. This would mean that I might lose access to some crypto funds but, I‘m pretty sure, that I can access most, on another laptop or once I‘ve got a new harddisk.

Next time I‘ll make sure I‘ve got a way to reboot Windows with a backup drive ( my laptop doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive ).

I Have Leveled Up

One thing I‘m feeling pretty good about though is that this whole situation hardly freaks me out these days. It‘s similar to, for instance, possible doom scenarios concerning my house ( that‘s for sale since November ).

I have asked myself several times:

How would I feel if I‘d lose all my things due to a fire?

( fyi: fires aren’t uncommon in this area of Portugal. The last, huge one, took place in October 2017 ) and I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be devastated. It would be tough to lose my laptop though.

Anyhow, I want to end it here, on a positive note. I feel that there’s a serious chance that my friend can fix the issue. I will make sure to take better security measures from now on.

If not, it’s really not the end of the world and I‘ll still get myself a Raspberry Pi.

I didn’t even mention the two 10 year old, hardly functioning external harddisks that I have and tried to use - in vain - to boot from. I believe I have a harddisk backup on one of those, as well as a backup op my Password manager‘s files on a USB-stick but I‘m not 100% sure.

Things will work out eventually, one way or another:<)

So what about you? Do you backup? How well is your crypto protected? How would you feel if you lost it all?

I‘m looking forward to reading your story in the comments...